


Are You Crashing All Around Me?

by julimoore



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Dark!Leia, F/M, Slow Burn, there will be fluff I promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-20
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-05-15 02:00:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5767051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julimoore/pseuds/julimoore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dark!Leia AU. Han Solo has to make an emergency stop on a remote system's planet. His first encounter with the queen is anything but pleasant. He is taken as her prisoner, but soon they must learn to get along to order to save both of their lives.</p><p>(rated M for future chapters)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Undesirable Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I just wanted to begin this story by saying that this story is entirely dedicated to my peach, Frankie. Without her, I probably wouldn't have had the motivation to write this. Love you xx

The throne room was rather dim with minimal natural lighting, save for the two small windows that currently were being pelted with rain. Every so often, lightning flashed across the sky and illuminated the elegant but sparse furniture in the room. There was only a throne, sat on a platform to overlook the room, and a few strategically placed lamps to give the room a soft glow. The floor was a cool black, that shined beneath the lights. The walls were a pure white, giving the room a formal feeling to it.

The captured pilot spoke first: “Your worshipfulness,” he bowed to her, “it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Why have you landed on my planet without my permission?” The queen ignored his greeting. She studied him with dark eyes and the captured pilot took notice of how stiff she sat in the large throne.

“Just passing by, my ships need a few repairs. I should be out of your pretty little hairs in no time.” He smirked at her and she frowned back.

How dare he smile at her like that when he had landed so carelessly on her planet. The queen felt nothing but dislike for this, this scruffy-looking man. Sure, he was pretty good looking, but he needed a hair brushing and probably a shower too. She immediately didn’t trust him and as soon as her men would finish their background check on him, she would send him off with a warning not to return.

“You shouldn’t have landed here.”

“Well, sweetheart, where else would you have me land? An uninhabited moon?” He deadpanned.

“Yes, I would have!” She snapped. The queen quickly rose to her feet and made her way to the still smirking pilot. “You have a lot of nerve coming in here and speaking to me that way.”

“Well, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine.” As soon as he said this, he quickly took a step back to avoid the hand flying towards his face. “A bit testy are we, princess?” He asked.

“Queen.” She corrected. She then addressed the her guards to take him out of her sights and into a cell. As he was being led away she turned to the pilot, smiled, and added, “I’m sure you’ll feel right at home, flyboy.”

The cell he was shown to wasn’t insufferably small like most, but it wasn’t exactly luxurious either. It consisted of a single bed on the opposite wall of the door that held a mattress with a white sheet, pillow, and thin blanket. A nightstand stood next to the bed and the pilot assumed the single drawer was probably empty. There was another door that led to the bathroom. It was small, but equipped with a working shower. Something he had been trying to fix on his own ship.

The pilot contemplated the events that just took place. The queen had been so cold, so unwilling to hear him out. In fact, the man was for once not looking for trouble and truly needed to fix his ship, the Falcon. The hyperdrive component sparked and blew while trying to make his way to Tatooine. It was just his luck that he finally had enough money to pay off a few debts and now he couldn’t get there.

The Queen. She intrigued the pilot, drew him to her like a moth to a flame. She seemed cold, but something in her dark brown eyes told him there was more to her than the cold exterior that she showed him. Also, she looked vaguely familiar, but the dark red hair she had intricately braided down her shoulder threw him off from any human woman he would know. Yet, something in her stature and voice seemed recognizable. A woman of his dreams, perhaps.

The pilot decided to take a shower, more to cleanse his mind from the queen than to get the dirt off of himself. The warm water felt sweet to his skin compared to the frigid droplets the Falcon’s shower spit out at him. When he stepped out, toweled off and dressed, he walked out of the bathroom to be greeted by the queen. She sat on the edge of the bed, legs crossed underneath her long, black dress. She had a wicked smile on her face.

“So it seems that you’re a very, for lack of better terms, popular man. While under normal circumstances, I might have let you leave my planet as quickly as possible with no more than a threat to never come back, it seems that the Empire has a warrant out for you. The rest of the bounties I would happily ignore since I despise you greatly, but the Empire is completely different. I can’t simply ignore them, can I?”

“But, you could,” he said. Taking advantage of her pause he continued, “you said so yourself; you don’t want to keep me here. Why not just look the other way and I’ll never tell a soul the kindness that was bestowed upon me by the Ice Princess.” He grinned at the last part, but she looked less than amused.

“I am a queen!” Her patience was thin like the very ice the pilot was walking on. “Queen Leia Organa of the planet, Verwest. You should be mindful of that, flyboy, since you’re going to be spending quite sometime here as my prisoner while the Imperial army sends an escort fleet to pick you up. You’re not a top priority for them. Estimated time of arrival was given to be about 2-3 months.”

“Months?” He groaned. There was no way he was going to survive months with this woman. She may be beautiful, but that didn’t make up for the hell he knew she was going to put him through. He should’ve taken his chances with flying the Falcon all the way to Tatooine. Curse playing it safe. 

“Welcome to my home, Mr. Han Solo, I hope you find your stay a pleasurable one.” And with that, she flashed him that beautifully wicked smile again before leaving him alone in his cell.


	2. Thoughts; Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter is basically just Leia, but I felt it was an important chapter to add before I got too deep into Han/Leia's relationship.

Leia went to her room and slammed the door behind her with a loud bang using the force. The sound echoed throughout the room and the annoying vibrations caused more anger to swell inside of her.

She asked herself why she was so angry. What about this man brought such strong hatred into her heart? She hadn’t felt this level of emotion since that one...incident. And that was so many years ago that Leia had deemed it irrelevant to her life now and definitely believed she would never feel like that again. But something about that brown eyed thief made her want to strangle someone.

Standing at the desk, Leia picked up the file that was gathered against Mr. Solo. She flipped through the pages almost mindlessly. Smuggler. Thief. Pilot. Rebel Scum. Labels upon labels. Numerous bounties on his head. Yet, the queen had never heard of this man before. If found, please contact the Imperial Army immediately. The last page of the file had contact information and a small picture of the smuggler. He was smirking in the picture and Leia wondered if he had any other facial expression. Solo’s hair was messy in the picture and quite as unruly as it had been when he had just stepped out of the shower.

Leia took a seat and carefully cut out the picture of his face and taped it to the wall behind her desk. Taking a red marker, she circled his face and placed a giant X that went straight through those condescending brown eyes. She felt sick looking at those eyes. They were so-

She shook her head. She didn’t want to spend her small luxury of free time fretting about the prisoner.

To clear her mind, the queen drew a bath in the massive bathroom. Leia stood in front of the huge vanity mirror and took out every single one of her hair pins one by one and placed them in a perfect line on the counter.

Dark red hair cascaded down to rest on her shoulders. The strands were curled from being up all day and Leia ran her fingers through the small spirals. She tugged at a few strands and flinched at the realization that she almost didn’t recognize herself anymore. The former princess had changed so much, so fast. A fleeting thought reminded her that this was her fault. She pushed it away and willed her mind to give her a break for the rest of the night.

The bath water was steaming hot and almost burned at the touch. Leia let the steam wash over her face and she breathed in the scented salts she had thrown in. Her muscles relaxed and her eyes fluttered shut. It felt nice to let go like this, to wash away anger and dirt equally.

A soft melody played in the background, but soon it was not enough to keep dark thoughts out of the queen’s head. Images of Solo flashed in her mind. Leia squeezed her eyes and tried to send them away again, but when she did, the intruding face of the smuggler was replaced by dark, more sinister images. A single tear escaped of Leia’s eye as she tried to manage the darkness.

Her eyes flew open and she suppressed the images with a wave of anger. Bathtime was over. She drained the water and toweled off. Catching a glimpse of herself, Leia cursed the single tear and wiped it away.

How could she be so weak to let her mind wander like that? She clenched her fists and called back to the anger that kept her sane. Letting the darkness wash over her, she soon hardened up again and felt the all-familiar numbness take over. She sighed with relief. No feelings meant no pain and that meant no emotional decision making.

Leia threw on a pair of dark pajamas and did her wet hair up in a braid. With any luck, she could undo the braid in the morning and not have to spend an hour curling it by hand. Settling into her bed, she switched off the lamppost by her bed and let a different, quieter, kind of darkness wash over her.

Despite the relaxing bath and enforced numbness from earlier, Leia tossed and turned. Two hours of trying to sleep and she was on her feet heading toward her desk. The contact info of the Empire glared at her, as if it already knew her secret.

She wanted to scream.

She would have too, but she didn’t want to alert the guards who were no doubt making their rounds around the palace. More than she wanted to scream was the desire to be alone. Instead, she ripped down the picture of Solo from her wall and crumpled it up into a ball. Looking down at the distorted face in her hand, the redhead chuckled and threw it into the trash bin. She felt foolish for putting it up there in the first place.

Finally feeling exhausted, Leia pushed her way back into bed. She regretted deeply how she was handling the prisoner. A voice inside of her screamed at her for not actually calling the Imperial army. She could be sleeping peacefully now instead of worrying about what to do with the prisoner.

Leia closed her eyes for what seemed like the thousandth time tonight. She knew she should have called. She had wanted to. But when she dialed the number, she couldn’t go through with the bounty. The worst part was that she didn’t know why. Something held her from making the call and she wanted to blame it on nerves; she had broken off contact with all life outside of this system so long ago. Deep down, though, she knew that was not the case. Queen Leia Organa was not afraid of anything or anyone.

Except..maybe she was a little afraid of her attraction to the prisoner in her walls. But she didn’t have any more time to ponder the reasons for her actions as sleep took her, blissfully freeing her from any more thoughts that could come her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, this chapter is basically here to set up some items for the rest of the story. Our two favorite heroes will be interacting next chapter :). Thanks for reading!


	3. Work For Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, we finally start getting to the Han/Leia bits!

Han could feel the boredom taking its toll on his mind. It had only been one night, but the lack of sleep and the emptiness of the room around him made him stir crazy. He paced back and forth, mumbling curses under his breath directed at the queen.

 

He formed plans in his mind. Plans to escape from here. Plans to escape from Imperial custody. He figured that if he could just get the queen alone...she was tiny enough that he could probably overpower easily. Afterall, he was probably about a foot taller than the redhead.

 

_Queen Leia Organa of the planet Verwest._ Her voiced echoed deep in his mind. Han just couldn’t shake the feeling that he had heard that name before. He rendered it impossible, though, his mind was just playing tricks on him. This system was so far away from any other that he figured the queen barely had anything to do with either the rebels or the empire. He reckoned this was the reason she had so much power too. From the basic glances of the planet that he saw, he had deduced that yes, her people were well taken care of, but there was sort of a fear that lingered in the air. The planet was also the cleanest he had ever been on and believed that was the queen’s attempt at keep up a certain decorum of living. How she had the money to do this baffled Han. Weren’t smaller systems supposed to have hard working farmers and limited supplies? Han felt he was missing something in the equation.

 

A click echoed throughout the room and the door swung open. Han sat up in his bed and smiled, albeit sarcastically, at his visitor. 

 

“Good morning, sweetheart! To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing your face this early in the morning?” There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice but he maintained his stature nonetheless.

 

“I thought you could use some breakfast. The empire did say they wanted you _alive_.” Her face was firm and she seemed to ignore his earlier comment. The way she gritted out the word ‘alive’ made him wonder if she intended to do the bare minimum of that.

 

“I would love some breakfast! Haven’t eaten since I landed on this hunk of rock and you so wonderfully took me in.” Han wanted to keep going, to keep firing at her for being so _heartless_. He bit his tongue and was wordlessly led to a dining hall. On the way there Han noticed how relatively modest her ‘palace’ seemed to be compared to the luxury mansions that were built around the queen’s home. Maybe she had traded her luxury in favor of her people’s. He had a hard time believing she was that thoughtful.

 

Han took a seat at the small dining table. The guards took post by the door and he watched the queen glide to the seat across from him.

 

“Aw, how sweet of you to join me.” He gave her a ridiculous smile as she rolled her eyes. A plate of eggs and bacon were placed in front of him. Again, being here almost felt like a luxury compared to the Falcon. But the Falcon was freedom and here was a prison.

 

“I actually have matters to discuss with you.” Leia said.

 

“I’m all ears” he mumbled with a mouthful of food.

 

“I’m offering you work in exchange for a small amount of freedom.”

 

Han looked at her with confusion in his eyes. Hesitantly he asked, “what kind of work are we talkin’ about?”

 

“I have a few ships that need repaired. Work on them. Get them running. If you do well, I may be willing to make your stay here more comfortable.” The queen crossed her legs under the table and eyed him expectantly. Han believed this offer too good to be true. _An escape plan,_ he thought.

 

“Hm and what’s the catch?”

 

“Well, you’ll be under strict supervision of course. Any attempts to flee will be punished _severely_ as well. The Emperor wants you alive, but he didn’t specify in one piece.” There was that wicked smile again. Han wanted to be frightened, he truly believed it would be in his best interest to be afraid of this queen. But that smile seemed almost _cute_ to him. He almost would rather get into trouble so he could see that smile than have to stare at the permanent frown line she donned.

 

Han believed the queen to be beautiful, despite all of her subtle attempts to elude away from her beauty. Her simplistic gowns did nothing to bring out the curves of her body or help accentuate her eyes. Her face was framed by a few dark red curls, but the rest of her hair was wound tightly in a practical bun. He had an overwhelming desire to pull her hair free and see what she looked like with her hair down. She was beautiful now, staring daggers at him with her eyes, he could only imagine what she looked like if she smiled genuinely at him.

 

“Why are you staring at me?” Leia snapped at him. She wanted him to fear her like everyone else on this planet. Instead those damn brown eyes showed nothing but an acute fondness for her. _Scoundrel,_ she thought. She pursed her lips, “well?”

 

“I would be just..honored to work for you, princess” he said. No sooner did the words come out of his mouth that he felt a sharp _zap_ on his arm.

 

“Ow!” He screamed and rubbed his arm where there was a leftover sting. “What was that for?”

 

“I told you to be mindful of words, smuggler. I am a _queen_ and you will address me as such. Consider this a warning. Next time I will not be so forgiving.” Leia put the small stun gun she had shot him with away. Han had never seen or felt a weapon quite like it. He hurt, but it was manageable and it hadn’t left a mark on his skin. This place was a mystery.

 

“I called you sweetheart earlier.” He stated.

 

“I did not want to stray from the point of me accompanying you at the table.”

 

“I think you liked it.”

 

Leia felt the anger rise in her chest. A queen like her would never _enjoy_ being called ‘sweetheart’ by such a scruffy looking, nerf-herder! Her hand extended out before she even had a chance to stop herself. The smuggler flew out of his chair and hit the door behind him harshly. Han hit the floor and gasped for the breath that was knocked out of him.

 

“Take him back to his cell. He’ll begin work tomorrow.” He heard her snap. Then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading!


	4. My Dear, You Look So Beautiful in Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for how late this is! I originally was going to post it yesterday, but school got in the way and I had to wait till this morning to get some last minute editing in. Also, this was supposed to be all one chapter, but I decided it was too long. This is part one of a two part chapter, enjoy!

They fell into a sort of pattern. 

 

Every morning they had breakfast together. It was awkward and stiff and Han made sure there was never a repeat of the first morning. As curious as the man was, he wanted to gain a semblance of her trust to make escaping easier. He also made sure to be extra careful around her knowing now that she was a force user. It was something that surprised him about the queen, but accepted it as no less than another obstacle to consider when planning.

 

Leia on the other hand, was quite content to eat in silence. She felt a little uncomfortable when the smuggler would study her every now and again, but she found herself enjoying the company a small bit. She felt satisfied that her scare tactics had  worked on the scoundrel and was being addressed strictly by “your worshipfulness” and “queen”. Leia felt a bubble of pride at teaching the scoundrel some manners.

 

“You’ve been making good progress on the ships I assigned you.” Leia said one morning.

 

Han laid down his fork. “I’m doing my best, your worshipfulness.”

 

“You can make one _reasonable_ request. And I stress the reasonable part.”

 

“Easy. I want to watch you”

 

“Excuse me?” She furrowed her brows at his request.

 

“I want to watch you work at your public forum, whenever it is.”

 

Leia sighed. It was reasonable enough, but she was more hoping he would ask for something along the lines of alcohol or fancy food. Those required a lot less effort on her part.

 

“How do you know I even have a public forum?”

 

“You don’t have an empty throne room just to sit around and brood all day”

 

“It is not going to be as interesting as you may think, Mr. Solo.”

 

“Hey, you said I can make one request and this it, princess” he cringed, “sorry..old habits die hard ya know”

 

She waved him off. “Fine. But you will stand there and you will be quiet. One peep out of you and you’ll be spending the rest of your time here in your cell.”

 

“I’ll be as good as gold.” Han flashed her his best smile and they went about eating the rest of their meal in a comfortable silence.

When the time came for the forum, Han was given more formal clothes to wear. The queen had been providing him with clothes, but they were more suitable for fixing ships than they were to make a respectable impression in front of a bunch of strangers. He understood that he had made an odd request, but while straightening his tie, he couldn’t help feeling excitement at getting to watch the queen work. He wanted to see a different side of her, the side she showed her people.

 

Han was escorted into the throne room and was shown to the side of the throne. Standing against the wall, he watched what he assumed were common people (on this planet at least, since everyone seemed to ooze wealth) file in and gather around the throne. He turned to the entrance and his breath caught in his throat.

 

Leia walked in wearing an all white gown that fell to the floor delicately. The sleeves were made of sheer lace and the dress was low cut enough to be noticeable, but still high enough to be considered classy. Her dark red hair fell to her shoulders and had braids running along the sides of her head before reaching the back and becoming untangled with the rest of her curls. She had a crown made of white leaves resting on her head that glittered in the light and contrasted with the dark makeup she wore. Han had never seen Leia so dressed up, so _beautiful._ In fact, Han couldn’t recall seeing any other woman look this beautiful.

 

As she walked past him, she sent him a warning look as if to say, _don’t you dare speak._ Han tried to give her a reassuring smile and nodded his head. She only pursed her lips and took her seat on the throne.

 

“Let the session begin.” She called out.

 

The public forum was anything but exciting. Han watched the smaller woman the entire time she ruled over her people. He found her harsh and at times, unfair. She ruled with an iron fist, no doubt. He wondered if the Empire had trained her, if the Empire sent her here to help keep the system in check and free from Rebel influence. The more time that passed, the more Han got the distinct impression that Leia enjoyed handing out the punishments way more than she liked the financial problems that came to her.

 

Han felt his legs getting tired about halfway through, but he soldiered on. He distracted himself with the way the queen smiled tightly at her people. It was forced, but it was still a smile and he rarely saw those. He focused on the sparkle in her eyes, even when she wasn’t dishing out punishments, he saw a certain shine in her eyes just from the power of towering over the crowd. Not that he blamed her for enjoying such control, but part of him longed to see that sparkle come from anything other than control. _She needs a hobby_ , he thought. He also focused on her hands. Her tiny, delicate, and strong hands. The way she folded them in her lap or placed them on the arms of her throne had him mesmerized. And then, there was the delicate way she used the force. Even when strangling someone, her hands looked soft enough to hold.

 

Leia Organa was heartless and cold, and Han wondered why many of these people even bothered to show up when half of the time the tables were turned on them, but she was an enigma that he wanted to delve deeper into and study. He almost wished he had more time here.

 

Late at night, a few hours after the forum was over, Han sat in his bed reading some book he had found on a ship he had worked on. It was boring, but it was something to do until he felt tired.

 

He heard his door open and he turned his head to see the queen in the doorway followed, as usual, by a guard. He reasoned that she still did not completely trust him yet. She did surprise him by sitting on the edge of his bed, still done up in the white gown and makeup.

 

“Was it worth it?” She asked.

 

“Extremely.” Han smiled, “you look beautiful. Definitely worth my weight in work.” He could’ve sworn that she smiled at him for a split second.

 

“Seems a waste to me.” She scoffed. But when she met his eyes, her face softened.

 

“Nah.” As Han looked into her eyes and just felt _something_ for this woman. If only he could just get her to smile, open up, anything. He noticed a small curl that seemed out of place. He tentatively reached out to push it out of her face, but a small hand shot up to grip his wrist. Pain shot through his arm as her fingernails curled into his skin.

 

“Don’t. Touch. Me.” She snarled and exited faster than he could get an apology out. He gripped his wrist to stop blood from getting on his sheets and made his way to the sink. Washing out the laceration from her fingernails, he cursed. He was so close to getting somewhere with her. He felt that he had gotten somewhere with her. Guess not.

 

Meanwhile, Leia had stormed off down the hall. Her guard chased furiously after her trying to catch up.

 

“Are you alright, my queen?” He asked. Leia spun around and used the force to lift him off the ground whilst choking him.

 

She snarled, “Do I look like I need your concern?” She dropped him and he fought to return his breathing back to normal on the ground.

 

“I want to be left alone tonight. Put guards at the end of my hallway but nowhere closer.”

 

“Yes..my..queen.” He choked out.

 

She left him there and flew to her room. She berated herself for what happened in the prisoner’s cell. She had almost let her guard down in front of him. She cringed. She had almost let herself feel.

 

Safe in her room, she ripped herself out of the dress and pulled the pins from her hair. She hated that smuggler! Leia felt a wave of nausea as she regretted not calling the Empire. None of this would have happened if she had just done as she was supposed to!

 

The anger boiled up inside her became too much and she let out a scream. The vanity mirror beside her shattered and while shielding her face, the shards stung against her half-naked body. She surveyed the mess around her and slumped to the floor, defeated. In the corner of her eye, she noticed a white square of paper underneath the her vanity. Ignoring the pain of crawling over the broken glass, she retrieved the paper. Turning it over revealed it to be a picture of her as a child. She and her mother were smiling together in a field on Alderaan. She looked so innocent as a child, so blissfully unaware of the hardships that lie beyond that grassy plain.

 

Leia clutched the picture to her chest and let tears slip from her eyes. Leia’s actions today reminded her so much of _his._ Leia whispered hoarse apologies into the darkness.

 

“I never wanted to be like this, mother.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading and don't be afraid to shoot me a comment and let me know what you think :)


	5. Shattered, Like the Glass Under Your Feet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late, fam. College has been super busy and has been kickin my butt..anyways, I hope this long chapter makes up for my absence<3

Han had been planning his escape for so long and after the queen’s explosion on him tonight, he felt it was time to finally execute it. He felt under his mattress for tools and parts that he had been sneaking from his work and placed them in his pockets. He made his way to the small control panel and hot-wired the door open. 

 

“Hey-” the guard at Han’s door was unable to get the rest of his sentence out as Han knocked both of the guards out. He dragged their bodies into his room, took one of their blasters, and left quickly.

 

The feeling of freedom overwhelmed Han as he rushed down the hallways. To walk without guards holding guns to his head was something he never thought he’d get to experience again. A part of him would miss the queen, no doubt. She was so perfect in her own way, despite the pain she’d inflicted upon him. Even then, it’s not like Han didn’t antagonize her, didn’t push her buttons until fire leapt in her eyes. He realized he would miss her anger. But it wasn’t enough to stay.

 

Han was almost to the hanger when he heard it. A scream. A blood piercing scream and the shattering of something that sounded like glass. He shuddered. The urge to check out the noise rose inside of him, but he kept going. He was  _ almost  _ there.

 

In theory, Han could have left. He could of gotten on the Falcon, flown off, and have lived happily ever after away from Queen Leia Organa. He could have quickly fixed the broken hyperdrive with the stolen parts and been on his way. He could have never looked back. 

 

It was great theory.

 

But, he made it to the cockpit and curiosity had gotten the better of him. Han sighed, he had to check on her, make sure she was okay. So he doubled back. Used the element of surprise to kill the guards at the end of her hall, half surprised they weren’t checking up on her. He decided he would just take a peek inside. Make sure she was okay. Make sure she was, at the very least, breathing. He hot-wired her door so it would just slide open a crack and when it slid, he gasped.

 

He pushed the door open the rest of the way and rushed to the dark figure lying unconscious on the floor. He winced at the crunch of glass beneath his shoes and took note of his surroundings; the glass, the ripped clothes, the darkness, the slip of paper in her hand.

 

Han gently lifted Leia from the glass, trying to be mindful of spots where shards were sticking out from her pale skin. As he lifted her, the paper slipped from her fingers and fell among the glass. He ignored it and brought her to a clean spot on the floor, gently placing her on the ground there, her torso rested in his lap and her head was supported by his hands. He grimaced. She looked so _ fragile _ here in his arms like this. 

 

“Hey,” he nudged her, “Leia?” 

 

She stirred and looked at him through half-closed lids. Instantly her eyes shot open and she stiffened when she realized who exactly was holding her.

 

“Let me go” she said and struggled out of his embrace. She winced; her entire body was protesting against moving.

 

“I’m not going to hurt you, Leia.” Han tried to sooth her. He held onto her and though she gave a few more attempts to get out of his embrace, she quickly realized she was too weak to escape.

 

“I hate you.” She choked out. 

 

“I know.” He whispered back.

 

For some reason unknown to the both of them, she then let him help her onto her feet. She wanted to run, but she let him place one of arms around his neck and lift her up again. He walked them to her bathroom and set her onto the counter.

 

“Where are your washcloths?” He asked. She motioned under the sink and he brought up and soaked it in hot water. After that, it was all a daze to Leia. She must of sat on that counter for hours as he picked all of the broken glass from her knees and the palms of her hands. He picked the glass from the side of her the mirror has shattered on. Han wiped off all the dried blood from her body and after rinsing the cloth, he wiped the dried tears from her cheeks. His hands were so gentle on her body and he was attentive to her. She had to bite her bottom lip to keep from crying again. He placed the cloth on the side of the sink and leaned in to kiss her forehead. “Don’t go anywhere; I’ll be right back.”

 

He rummaged through one of her dresser drawers before coming up with something that he thought looked enough like a night shirt. He brought it to her and it held it out to her. He was taken aback when she laughed at him. Actually  _ laughed _ . “That’s not a night shirt,” she said, “they’re in that closet over there.”

 

Han mumbled an apology and fetched a different shirt with a smile from the small closet that was attached to the bathroom. “My lady.” He said, as he presented it to her. She lifted her arms up to help him get it on. It was foreign motion to him, he was so used to pulling shirts off of women that he almost froze. But he got her shirt on in a swift motion and she unclipped her bra herself and threw it to the floor. 

 

Without saying anything, Leia brought her legs onto the counter and turned around to face the mirror. Han removed the remaining pins that she had missed earlier and placed them beside her. She sighed as he combed through her hair with a brush.

 

“Leia?” He held out his hand to her. Leia studied his face in the mirror. She saw how his brown eyes were laced with worry and a certain twinkle of gentleness. She placed her small hand in his and let him spin her back around to face him. He proceeded help her down from the counter and she placed her arms around his neck to help him. For the third time tonight, she was in his arms. But this time was different, there was more acceptance from her to let him care for her. She didn’t try to fight and Han thought he felt her sigh against him.

 

He placed her upon her bed and pulled the covers over her body. He went to leave, let her rest in peace, but he felt a small hand wrap around his wrist. And unlike before, her touch was gentle.

 

“Don’t go” her whisper was almost inaudible as she turned her eyes away from him. “Not until I fall asleep.” 

 

Han could feel his heart breaking inside his chest. She refused to meet his eye as he sat on the side of her bed and he slipped his wrist from her grasp and laced his fingers with her’s. He half expected her to pull her hand from his, half expected her to taser him again. But, no shock came. Instead, Leia shifted onto her side, her back to him but her hand still entwined by his. She let his gentle words and warmth lure her into a long desired sleep.

 

When Han could see that she was asleep, he gently untangled his hand from her’s and placed a kiss on her forehead. He murmured, “goodbye, Leia” into her ear and pulled the covers up to her shoulder. He went to leave, but the slip of paper still in the glass caught his attention. As quietly as he could, the smuggler retrieved it from the floor. He rubbed it between his fingers and shook his head.

 

The smuggler realized this must have broken her. Yes, she had been upset from his actions, but this picture must have been her breaking point tonight. Han studied the little girl in the picture. This girl looked so happy compared to the one who was sleeping a few feet away now. He reasoned the older woman must be her mother and he thought that they must have had some fallout that Leia was upset about. Or maybe her mother had died and Han thought, if that was the case, maybe that’s the reason Leia had become such a harsh queen. She was afraid of getting hurt again.

 

Han placed the picture down on the vanity. He glanced once more at the sleeping queen before leaving. He hated the way his stomach was tossing as he closed the door behind him and made his way back to his ship for the second time tonight. He didn’t want to leave her. In fact, every part of his brain was screaming at him to turn around, to not waste an opportunity to make her laugh again because, oh god, her laugh was something that he would carry in his heart forever. 

  
Han clenched his fists. It still wasn’t enough to stay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love ya!


	6. How the Tables Have Turned

When Leia woke up, it was dark and silent in her room. The clock on her end table read 2am. She stretched and sat up, rubbing her eyes. 

She looked down and briefly wondered how she got into these clothes. A flood of memories rushed to her as she remembered Han taking care of her. She closed her eyes and put her head in her hands. She hadn’t meant to let Han take care of her. But, she had to admit to herself that it felt nice to be taken care of for once.

Leia pulled the covers off and stepped down from the bed. She needed a drink; water or vodka she wasn’t sure which. When she went to her door, she saw the broken panel and frowned. Did he really have to hotwire her door? That would be such a headache to fix.

Realization hit her halfway to the kitchen.  _ Han  _ had taken care of her last night _. Her prisoner _ . He had somehow escaped and was probably long gone by now. Leia rubbed her temples. She was definitely going for the vodka now.

This was also when she realized how quiet it was around her. She couldn’t remember the last time she had passed a guard on their post. The whole place was empty.. and kind of spooky. She continued her quest to the kitchen anyways deciding to investigate after that much needed drink.

When she got to the kitchen, she pulled down the closest bottle of vodka and grabbed a shot glass. She was pulling off the cork when the bottle suddenly rocketed out of her hands and smashed against the wall. The bottle, being glass, shattered and the stench of alcohol filled the air. Leia felt anger rise to her cheeks as she spun around to the face the one responsible.

Her father stood before her, black covered arm extended in front of him.

“You shouldn’t be drinking so early in the morning,” he breathed. Leia cringed at the sound of his voice. She had always hated the way his mask made him sound. To her, it amplified his bitterness and cruelty.

“What do you want?” She crossed her arms and got to the point.

“It’s been told to me that you’re harboring a prisoner. An enemy to the Empire. And you didn’t report it to me.” He took a few steps into the kitchen and continued, “I let you rule here to keep you from causing me trouble. We had terms and conditions, Ms. Organa.”

Ah, yes. Those terms that if she ever happened upon wanted rebels, she was obligated to report them and basically send them to their death. This was just one rebel and she had reported dozens already. Surely there had to be more to Han’s story than what was in his file that made her father personally visit her.

“We did, but I kept him in servitude. That should make you happy, no?” She played the darkness card as best she could.

“He had valuable information about the rebellion.” Vader slammed his fist the table in front of him.”I needed him.”

“Well, he’s gone now,” she said.

“You let him go?” He clenched his fist and the shot glass she had on the counter shattered. A few shards narrowly missed hitting her.

“He escaped.” She pursed her lips. She had a bad feeling about this outcome.

“This is unacceptable! You’re coming back on the ship with me since I apparently can’t trust you anymore.” His words made her stomach do flips. She just can’t abandon her people! This place had become her home. She was just starting to get better, to forget.

“I have responsibilities here!” She screamed. Leia wouldn’t go down without a fight that’s for sure.

“Not anymore. Instead, you will assist the Empire on board my ship. Where I can keep an eye on you.” Her father called in for guards and gave them the order to take her on board. He told them that’d he be there soon, he had to do some unspecified Empirical business. Leia suspected that business was her replacement.

She went with the troopers willingly, knowing there was no way to escape Vader at this point. He force skills were more in-tune than her’s. After all, her exercised his much more frequently than she needed to on her isolated planet. So, she let them lead her in the direction of their ships as long as they didn’t touch her.

They were halfway there, rounding a corner, when there was a bang and the stormtrooper in front dropped to the ground. Barely seconds later, a certain scoundrel poked his head around the corner and shot the rest that had encircled her.

“What-”

Han waved his hand and grabbed her own. “C’mon we have to go!” He pulled her along and eventually they got to his ship.

She stopped him and crossed her arms. “How did you know I needed saving? For all you could’ve known they were here for you, not me!”

“Are you really trying to argue about this  _ now _ ?!” He huffed and ran a hand through his hair. “Look princess, you can either stay here and take your chances with the Empire or you can come with me.”

“How do I know you’re any better?” She yelled.

Han threw his hands in the air. “We don’t have time for this!” He turned and continued to the Falcon. Leia contemplated her options; becoming her father’s prisoner or taking her chances with someone who was once her own prisoner.

Leia sighed and ran to catch up to Han. Worse comes to worse, Leia thought she could take Han in a fight better than she could Vader.

Soon enough, they were on the Falcon. Leia took up the co-pilots seat and they quickly got off the ground. When they got jumped into hyperspace, Leia let out a breath. Han looked over to her, she was still in her night clothes and her hair was a mess over her face.

“You’re not wearing any pants,” he told her. She looked at him and looked down. He was right. She crossed her legs and felt her face getting hot.

“I don’t suppose you have any that I could borrow?” She blushed and he told her to wait there. Leia couldn’t believe she just had an entire conversation with the lord of the Empire in her underwear. She groaned and covered her face with her hands. This was the worst day ever.

Han came back quickly and threw a pair of shorts onto her lap.

“Where did you..?”

“I have some old clothes from girls who used to come on the ship,” he explained. She nodded and needed no further explanation. She put them on and adjusted the waistband to fit her slimmer waist.

“Where are we going?” She asked.

“Someplace safe.”

“Where is that, exactly?”

“You’ll see,” he answered and he shook his head. “I didn’t get my ship completely fixed so you better make yourself comfortable, princess.”

“I really wish you would stop calling me that,” Leia huffed.

“Too bad, you’re on  _ my  _ ship now,  _ princess _ .” He winked at her and she responded with an eye roll. She didn’t know how long they were going to be on this piece of junk, but she prayed she wouldn’t be stuck with the scoundrel too long.

Leia leaned back into her co-pilot’s seat. She took a deep breath and appreciated the beauty of the open space in front of her. She was unaware that while she was watching the stars pass by, Han was watching her with the same fascination. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM ALIVE and I'm almost done with this school year so cross your fingers that I'll be able to upload more often! I swear I haven't forgotten about this story or have abandoned it.. I'm really sorry this chapter took so long, but again I hope to be writing more of this soon and I hope to get it completed in the near future. Thanks for sticking around <3

**Author's Note:**

> I do not know how long this series will be, but I hope to update it regularly. I already have a few chapters written ahead in case life gets busy. Thanks for reading! -Kat


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